California
by SydneyAustralia
Summary: There are seconds, fleeting bits of time, when they are more than spectres. One-Sentance Drabbles, not all related, all Rogue/Pyro
1. Chapter 1

00.01 Ice

Her skin is cold and she cries, sitting under the hot water stream of her shower; she wishes she hadn't let him touch her, wished the hot fingers of water were actual fingers belonging to a beautiful man with blonde hair and fire eyes.

00.02 Fire

His hands tangle in her hair and their kiss is not just a kiss- it's a reunion; it's both of their bodies screaming 'never leave again' and they are agreeing wholeheartedly with their bodies.

00.03 Red

It's the same color, over and over again; red sheets, red walls, red flames- and, slowly but surely, red becomes her security blanket and pretty soon all of her underwear is red, not only because he's a pyromaniac and he has a weakness for red, but because red makes her feel safe.

00.04 Fairies

She giggles at him, dressed in a child's Halloween costume to cheer her up- she knows that he'll never, ever do it again and she feels better now, seeing him in tights and a glittery pink leotard with his short hair strangled back into a tiny, tiny braid behind his tiara.

00.05 Green

She dances around the apartment, laughing and singing Christmas carols at the top of her lungs, the scent of pine needles and cookies and gravy and biscuits filling her nose- she has made him the exact same breakfast her Mama made every Christmas morning back in Mississippi and it brings back nostalgic memories so fast that tears spring to her eyes.

00.06 Baby

He hates it when she calls him 'Sparky', so he adopts a nickname for her- 'Baby Doll- that she pretends to hate but secretely loves, just like he secretely adores the nicknames she calls him.

00.07 Rap

She dances around the bedroom in her bra and a pair of pajama bottoms, tossing her head around and singing along to the fabulous duo that is 3OH!3 while doing some rather outlandish dance moves that end in a full side split -making her squeal in pain, realizing that she might not be as bendy as she thought.

00.08 Midnight

She sobs in her -their- bed and clutches at the sheets desperately; her whole entire being feels like it's being ripped apart and she cries for the man who is presently at Alcatraz and without her powers she has no way to help her fire raiser.

00.09 Wicked

Her arms around his shoulders are light as air and his hands grip her white-silk tressed-up hips as they waltz across the floor in a twisted volta, knowing that they shouldn't be here and they shouldn't be together but it's just so good and they can't keep from kissing and twining together and they don't want to stop.

00.10 California

Her skin is tanned sleekly and she lays in her bed with the window open, different from her time in California at Emma Frost's school; she looks sad and he stands in her doorway, just staring at her- her streaks were gone and her hair was sun-streaked now from the beach and his throat aches because she's so beautiful.

00.11 Phantom

He wanders the halls as a ghost and she does too- sometimes they cross paths, both traitors in different ways, and when they do there are seconds, fleeting bits of time, when they are more than spectres and can feel the other's body heat and have lips upon salty tasting skin.

00.12 Alien

His bare hands on her bare skin is something that she hasn't had in years and it sends her nerve endings on fire and she kisses him harder, begging him silently not to let her go, never ever let me go.

00.13 Road

She walks along the darkened stretch of black and yellow-striped asphalt in nothing but a pair of cut-offs and a loose white singlet, her feet bare and a leather satchel with sneakers hanging from the strap over her shoulder and the hot concrete is good against her virgin skin, similar to his body heat and she keeps walking, seeing the moon as his eyes.

00.14 Sea

She misses the vacations her family took during the summers to South Carolina, never leaving the Deep South if they could help it, and she holds his hand in her gloved one and they race back, laughing, while trying to beat the tide.

00.15 Sorry

He wishes he'd never said it, wishes he'd never uttered that single word that bounced around his head for days- _traitor. _

00.16 Sweetness

She's been a good girl for as long as she can remember; now, with her lips on his in front of everyone in the foyer of the mansion, she couldn't care less about being good.

00.17 East

The town of New York City holds memories- it's only ten miles away from the mansion, from where the person he wants most is probably sleeping in her bedroom and he wonders if she's dreaming about him.

00.18 West

She walks along the coast in her nightgown, the ocean roaring and a bonfire dying out in the distance; she can't stop looking at the flames and she stands between liquid and fire and she wants the fire more than anything, so she walks towards it and sits and stares at it.

00.19 Sinister

He looks at the...thing...in disdain (why did she like it?) and it stared back; he prepared himself to attack it if neccesary- it's sinister black button eyes and pink flannel skin obviously dangerous- and then Marie comes into their bedroom and looks at him "It's a sock monkey, Johnny, not some sort of terroristic device."

00.20 Pink

She's staring at the white plastic sticks, three of them, all in a row on the edge of the bathtub and resists the urge to be sick again, while he's on the phone calling everyone and yelling out the news like the excited Daddy-to-be and already planning out 'the little wombat's' life up until college.


	2. Chapter 2

00.21 Sheer

She walks into his room to find him on his back in just his jeans, and silently she lays beside him, his bicep pillowing her head and one of her legs tangled in his.

00.22 Kiss

She love, love, loves chocolate; when he comes home from his mission with Magneto and slinks into her bedroom, she's on her back clutching her stomach, groaning at the pile of little silver wrappers and tiny rice-paper banners bearing the words 'Hershey' on them.

00.23 Slide

She runs forward and leaps up onto the slick stair rails in her stocking feet, sliding down the twirling ledges at breakneck pace, finally landing on her silk-nightgown-clad backside and coming to rest looking up at him just as he walks in the mansion's doors from his night out.

00.24 Jaws

She flicks the lighter open and closed, smiling a secret smile as there are questioning looks all around; the lighter is special to him and he gave it to her- she's special to him.

00.25 Plastic

She comes back one day from an errand she had to run and she's shaking; her eyes are red and she shakes her head when he asks what's wrong, the only thing she says is, "Erik," and he holds her tighter.

00.26 Water

She's in the pool, splashing around and laughing, and he's walking past the side when a thin, spidery hand whips out and yanks him in by his ankles; he comes back up gasping and acting like a cat in a bath.

00.27 Freak

John wonders what he did to be able to deserve this- someone upstairs must be watching out for him, he decides, looking at Marie doing her daily 'advanced yoga' workout, folding her body like a pretzel.

00.28 Daughter

The room is completely blue, because she insists that this baby is a boy- when their little Johanna is brought home instead of little Johnathon, he pulls out a box of things from the closet, all pink or purple and covered in girly stuff.

00.29 Ink

After he falls asleep next to her, she creeps over and grabs a marker, writing all over his chest and arms and legs, smothering her giggles when he walks into the bathroom a few hours later groggy and covered in the lyrics to a Cheap Trick song.

00.30 Hunted

When he finally gets home from Pete's bachelor party, half drunk and missing his girlfriend, he finds her in the living room wearing her pajamas and sobbing, a Disney 'classic' about a baby buck and his poor, dead mother playing on the TV while she hides her eyes.

00.31 Horror

They're walking back into the mansion at two a.m., fresh from a Rocky Horror Double Feature and dressed in a French maid's uniform and a pair of gold briefs and high tops, to find a certain X-Man with a ruby-red visor and a man in a wheelchair waiting for them bemusedly.

00.32 Yellow

She finally gets the bright idea to give Jubilee some liqour for their 'girl's night in' and then when the yellow-clad gossip is sufficiently passed out twenty minutes later, she sneaks into the boys' dormitories.

00.33 No

On her side and looking at his sleeping face, tears stream down the bridge of her nose and drip down like crystals onto the bed, where they shatter into a million pieces; she'll do whatever it takes to keep him safe.

00.34 Missed

When they finally realize that the girl's bathroom has been locked for a good several hours, they have Cyclops melt the lock, bursting in to see a ethereally pale figure sprawled out in the now-icy bathtub, her long multi-colored hair streaming out in the water behind her and her eyes wide open and staring at nothing.

00.35 Sun

She's stretched out next to Kitty and Jubes on the mansion lawn, the bright blue of her bikini practically reflective from the light as they draw a crowd of boys, the leader being a blonde bad-boy compulsively opening and closing a Zippo lighter.

00.36 Yes

He's down on one knee and her eyes are huge and she's cussing up a storm, finally plucking the ruby ring out of the box and shoving it onto her left hand, doing a victory dance and smacking a kiss to his lips before racing off yelling, "Ah'm engaged!"

00.37 Moon

Her skin is reflective and in the pale light of her room, she practically glows, pearlescent and perfect and completely his, and he's never felt so warm in his life.

00.38 Busted

He's soaked to the bone and she's shivering and they are screaming with laughter, collapsed on the floor of the foyer, and suddenly she tells him to shut up and then he's too busy to remember a little thing like why they were laughing, or, for example, what his name is and how to use his lungs.

00.39 Grass

She's giggling and he's just leaning back and enjoying the mellowed out feeling, smoke swirling around the room and the only other sound is the occasional crunch as his striped-haired 420 companion stuffs her face full of Chex Mix and ginger ale.

00.40 Car

He's fallen asleep under his JTO Judge again, instead of under her, and she creeps out to join him, wondering for a second whether or not he loves her more than his beautiful car.


	3. Chapter 3

**00.41 Hug **

He held her slender little body closer, forehead against hers, and she's begging him not to leave her- she'll break up with Bobby, she promises, she'll stop making him get up so early, she won't nag him anymore; it breaks his heart.

**00.42 Cry**

His hands skim over her waist and she cries out with laughter, trying to squirm out of his grip, and she ends up falling off of the dock and into the water with a scream and he follows as fast as he can, grabbing as much of her skin as possible.

**00.43 Touch**

She's suddenly a temptress and her lips twist into a smirk and her fingers twist wickedly into his hair and he's sad because this isn't her- it's a reaction to grabbing his ankle; but he can't bring himself to stop.

**00.44 Tremble**

She's shaking and pounding on his apartment door, tears streaming down her pale face, and he pulls it open in shock, looking at the falling-apart mess of a girl before him; her gloves are gone and mascara streams down her face and she's repeating it over and over- _they're all gone, it's so quiet!_

**00.45 Thunder**

Her hair is soaked through and she smiles into their kiss and his arms are holding her to him and they're whispering between open mouthed kisses and he wants her and she wants him.

**00.46 Need**

She's screaming now, in the MedLab, and she's clutching her stomach and the screams are now sobs and she's screeching his name over and over again, she doesn't want Logan, she doesn't want Bobby, SHE DOESN'T WANT JEAN!

**00.47 Taste**

It's cinnamon and smoke and ashes and she wants more, and she'll do whatever it takes to get it- turn traitor, go to the dark side, all of that, just for one more taste.

**00.48 Lace**

_You're killing me;_ she's so innocent and obscene at the same time, every line of her body is against his, and that black lace clinging to her like a second skin and scraping against the floor with a rustling sound is enough to drive him insane.

**00.49 Want**

Here, in this cell, he spends a lot of time thinking- thinking of her, of her long hair and her soft mouth and her big eyes and he wants her with him, needs her when the nightmares come again, but she's never there when he wakes up screaming.

**00.50 Kill**

Her hands are on his face, and they're lying there on that filthy floor, knowing that at any moment the soldiers will come in and kill them, and their bare bodies press together with an urgency, his life is draining out of him, and all they need is a spark- and there it is, and then as his heart stops the room blows up and there's no pain anymore.

**00.51 Take**

He doesn't care- he doesn't care, he tries to believe it desperately as he watches through the stained glass windows of the church, sees her pale, unmoving body in that black, matte finished casket, dark hair in perfect curls.

**00.52 Blood**

It's dripping, sliding, like a fine wine, staining the white of her gown and her eyes find his anguished ones and then they slide closed for the last time and she's falling, falling, falling.

**00.53 Sorry**

He's begging her to forgive him, please take me back, I love you more than words can say, I'm sorry for hurting you, I just get so mad sometimes, you know I won't do it again.

**00.54 Photograph**

It's on the dresser, mocking her, and she sobs, flinging it across the room where it shatters- her hands find the dog tags strung around her neck and she tears them off, too; still crying, she feels too-warm arms wrap around her waist and he's soothing the ache.

**00.55 Proof**

She's got to have something, something to prove that what they had was real and true; it comes in the form of a worn Zippo lighter in a padded envelope, addressed to simply "Rogue".

**00.56 Tragedy**

Erik is shooting shrapnel through their embracing bodies and they're kissing hungrily on that battlefield as Magneto annihilates them- neither wants to be the one to stop.

**00.57 White**

She walks down that aisle and she's never been so scared in her life- they're all looking at her, the Southern bell with the flaming red hair ribbon and white gown, a blush standing out on pale cheeks, and for a split second she thinks she can't do this; then her eyes connect with his.

**00.58 Black**

he's decked out like a Goth tonight, leather pants and a clinging black shirt, and she's standing in front of him in nothing but her own black lace underwear; she knows that she should go, this is wrong, she's dating Bobby- this is Bobby's room, for God's sake- but he's not flinching and she's not leaving.

**00.59 Blame**

He's yelling now, trying to place the blame on her, on the useless contraception, and tears are streaking down her face; he sees them, and then he stops screaming and simply holds her tight.

**00.60 Lipstick**

Her mouth on his, leaving a trail of moist color across his face, a streak against the tan skin, is too much for her mind to comprehend- she settles on doing this mindlessly, following her body and her heart instead of her mind.


	4. AN or Request

** I'm thinking of doing a full one-shot, or a series of one-shots, based on one or more of my one-sentence drabbles. If you read this and you have a particular sentence you want to be expanded, or maybe you want me to include themes from several different ones, please review and tell me the numbers, and maybe a challenge or stipulation for me to use in the one-shot.**

** Thanks, **

** Sydney Australia**


	5. 16 Sweetness

**16 Sweetness- She's been a good girl for as long as she can remember; now, with her lips on his in front of everyone in the foyer of the mansion, she could care less about being good.**

**Special thanks to Shattered Mirror01 for the review- it really kicked me into gear. So, because she asked me to, I'm gonna be doing #16, Sweetness. **

All day, she feels… jittery, and it's really getting on her nerves. She maintains a cool, calm, sweet façade, though. She has the inexplicable urge to dress… differently today; for some reason, it's like the red tee shirt in the back of her closet is screaming at her.

So, she puts it on along with a pair of form-fitting blue jeans and matching little red flats, savoring in her bare arms. Of course, it took a long time to achieve, but with Miss Marvel no longer invading her every thought and her psyches well under control, Rogue can breathe easily.

Sitting down at the little vanity in her room to put on some makeup, she lets her gaze find the worn Zippo lighter that holds a picture of two smiling teenagers firmly onto the table. A smile, strange and happy, tugs at her lips. Her fingertips find the dark-haired boy's figure on the photograph, tracing his smile. His hands are a blur because he's flicking the lighter.

She reaches out casually, picking up the lighter and slipping it into her pocket. She feels oddly at peace. She's just walking out of her bedroom as she hears the shouts. And then she's sprinting to the top of the big stairs and looking down to see Ororo restraining Bobby Drake and Logan snarling and… a bleached head, a leather jacket, and a grin.

And then she ran down the stairs, almost tripping and breaking her neck, his name leaving her mouth in the form of an exulted shout, and she threw her arms around him. Her mouth finds his, Logan and Bobby both shout at her, but **she's been a good girl for as long as she can remember; now, with her lips on his in front of everyone in the foyer of the mansion, she could care less about being good.**

There will be time for explanations later, she decides, as he picks her up and holds her to him tightly. There's this big thing just lurking under the surface of her skin, this big love that she has for him, and when their lips disconnect, she gasps those three words out. "I love you!"

He kisses her again, with more passion, if at all possible. And then he whispers it back into her ear. "Love you, too, Roguey,"


End file.
